DS18 came home from school yesterday excited that one of his friends mentioned she’s also applying for the McDermott scholarship. At first I was happy because his friend group had initially given him grief about not applying to more “prestigious” colleges so I was pleased they were taking an interest in UTD. Then he mentioned that he might ‘collaborate’ with this girl so they could help each other with their videos. I just don’t think this is a good idea at all! Even though the content would be different I worry the style would be too similar and just doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.
He’s made progress with his portal’s ‘to do’ list. He’s going to have to follow up with his CC to make sure they actually sent his DE transcripts because they aren’t showing up yet and he needs to get his immunization records and meningitis form sent in, a little progress each day:-)
I think the fact that he’s going away to college is really starting to sink in, he’s been very thankful for the little things I do for him lately. Thanking me for getting a package mailed off for him, taking care of getting the check engine light issue resolved, things he’s never actually thanked me for before because they are just things mom does. I think now he’s realizing how much I do and realizing that when he’s at college all the little ‘mom jobs’ will then be his responsibility.
I really wouldn’t stress about the McDermott video. DD & I watched several from previous winners and they were all bad. Really bad. She feels it is just a way for them to weed out those not interested enough to do a video.
Thanks @PlateauMama, I will pass that along to my son who is dragging his feet on the video. I’m going to break my promise not to mention McDermott because I think this is good info.
@labegg yikes, The GC would have me pulling my hair out. When we first moved to Texas the slower pace and lack of urgency in general made me crazy. I’ve been here 5 years and while I no longer snap my fingers or tap my feet, the lack of response from the GC would have me seriously contemplating going over their head to the next level.
My tax refund funded last night, time to get online and get the FAFSA done, its on my to-do list for today.
When I arrived home last DD informed me she had applied to the Honors College at UAH. She is vacillating between Secondary Education and Astro-Physics. A year ago, she was all about Physics and then changed to Education with an emphasis on English and now she is contemplating Education with an emphasis on the sciences which is where her strengths are. She told me she had to submit an essay 300-1000 words on her “Favorite word”. She chose to use the word queer as we had just had a discussion earlier this week on how when I was her age, queer was a slur and how I still have trouble using it in everyday speak as it was ingrained into me to not use it. So, I commented that I would love to read it. (Thinking of all your kids and their essays they labor over, double check etc) she says “Oh I submitted it, it’s gone.”…Well darnit, I would have liked to read it but this is how she rolls.
@3scoutsmom, seriously, search up some of the 2017 winners on YouTube and you’ll see that the bar is not high. It helped me for sure, and I sent S links to two poor ones so that he can see he really just needs to submit SOMETHING and that bad videos didn’t keep people from winning. S could actually recycle themes from his junior year school video projects that would be way better than what I saw. I promised him I wouldn’t mention anything in person, but I hope he views the videos and gets past his reluctance to start his own.
@traveler98 I was surprised at how low the bar was for the video. DD had been stressing about it. Then we sat down and watched 3-4 of the videos and she was totally ok with doing it after that. DD made a script and she and her dad messed with some things over the weekend and decided that it should be done during daylight hours due to lighting. She came home from school yesterday and shot it while I was in the shower. Seriously, if you can get through all the essays, the video is not a big deal.
D pressed send on her 2nd app last night. Not a CA school so that unfinished essay didn’t come into play. This school has its own unique set of essays/short responses and they seemed to flow so easily for D. Fingers crossed the writing fairy will come and sprinkle some magic on that darned CA essay that’s hanging her up. [-O<
And GC uploaded her LOR last night! Both teacher LORs are also in…just waiting on one more… things are happening here, people!! #:-S
Flying out to Oregon tomorrow with DD’18. She and her teammates have a cross country meet, then it is off to Eugene for a college visit! (For those of you that are XC fans . . . no, she will not be running xc for the Ducks. ) B-)
@Astro77 our DD also applied to UMCP through the Coalition App, and now we go back into that system and it would show the status of all of the pieces. It was updated as the test scores came in, the recommendation letters came in (individually), and then finally the transcript and GC recommendation letter. Then it took another few days for it to switch to “Your Application complete date is XX/XX/XXXX”. If you log into the Coalition site, then scroll to the very bottom you’ll see the schools and for UMCP, it will give you two options “view application” and “application checklist”. It’s the application checklist part that shows the status of each piece. I think this will be the case for all Coalition app schools. I’ll repost if she eventually gets an email from UMCP with any different portal and login information, like she did for her other application after it was submitted.
Earlier DD’s school had taken over 3 weeks to send in her transcripts and GC rec letter. So, I emailed them to ask when they might go out. They went out the next day…but then they also sent them out to other schools that she flagged on Naviance as ones she might apply to. We had no clue until the GC called her into his office and started with “Now don’t get stressed…” but we they had sent her transcript and rec letters out to all of the schools, not just the ones she actually applied to. It was so odd, because at her HS they will not send out transcripts until you confirm the online application has been fully submitted and paid for. Oh well! At least the 2 she submitted have everything they need in hand, and the last one isn’t due until Dec. 1.
@lifegarding My DD also applied to UMCP through Coalition. Question for you…does her SAT/ACT score date list the actual date they were submitted? My DD’s SAT scores were sent by College Board on Tuesday and today the Coalition checklist updated the SAT received date as 2016-11-01. Not only is this a November 1st date but it is last year. I would be curious as to what your DD’s says. Thanks!
The Coalition App for UMD says her SAT scores are not yet in, but we had them sent with the free scores when she took the SAT test in August. I wonder how they link them? I would think by social security number.
Read this brief article this morning. AO’s spend 5 minutes on an application. (Makes me wonder why these kids spend so much time trying to perfect these essays) Can you sum your kid up in a few words or sentences from what is contained in their application?
My DD would be…
The consistent, determined, B-average, Texas cheerleader.
